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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24103159">Fallen Angel</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perplexed_Pufferfish/pseuds/Perplexed_Pufferfish'>Perplexed_Pufferfish</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Song of Ice and Fire &amp; Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Sarcasm, attempt at melodrama, death fake out, everything is pain, is anyone really dead?, j/c reunion as passionate as cottage cheese, plot twists!, s8 salty forever, stupid but so was s8, surprise cat authorship, the worst s8 fix it, valonquar action because why not</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 00:07:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,403</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24103159</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perplexed_Pufferfish/pseuds/Perplexed_Pufferfish</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jaime returns to Cersei after believing Brienne to be dead. Such is the torment of Jaime, forever being forced by the gods to follow one woman or another.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Fallen Angel</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Jaime to Cersei in 7x5: “I just saw the Dothraki fight. They'll beat any mercenary army. They'll beat any army I've ever seen. Killing our men wasn't war for them; it was sport. Her dragon burned a thousand wagons. Qyburn's scorpions fired bolts bigger than you. They couldn't stop it. And she has three of them. This isn't a war we can win.” </p>
<p>D&amp;D: We kinda forgot that Jaime said that, and we thought 8x5 would be a surprise.</p>
<p>We're now in that anniversary of the terrible time between 8x4 and 8x5. Then 8x5 never aired. Weird! </p>
<p>This is prompted by the constant “fix it” suggestions that Brienne dying at Winterfell would be a logical justification for Jaime returning to Cersei, like he only existed to follow the devil (Cersei) or the angel (Brienne) with no independent thought. In any case, killing the first woman knight an hour after her being knighted because her story arc is “complete”, giving us a silly shock death and fridging her for D&amp;D's Larry, would not be an improvement on what we got.</p>
<p>This is light on J/B because I want some wacky stuff to happen. Here, Jaime only believes Brienne to be dead rather than it being true.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The end came as a violent crash of silence against them as the undead fell.</p>
<p>“So we fight and die or we submit and die. I know my choice.” Cersei's words came to Jaime suddenly, prompted by the corpses surrounding him. She was dead, but her body hadn't followed yet, just like these creatures had been a minute before. The words had echoed in his head as he looked around, a haunting –</p>
<p>One of the Stark soldiers burst into the courtyard, interrupting his thoughts. “For House Stark!” he cried. “Prepare to meet the Stranger again, you undead filth!” He brandished his sword and looked around in confusion. “I just went for a piss! Has the attack started yet?” He thoughtlessly brought down his arm and wandered off toward celebrating fellow bannermen for answers.</p>
<p>And like that, the pain returned to Jaime. Cersei was as good as dead, and Brienne –</p>
<p>He had arrived in Winterfell just before the battle. If he had arrived sooner, maybe he could have stopped it. <em>They shouldn't have met the charge on the outside of the wall. More fire. </em><em>T</em><em>hicker wood pile.</em><em> More traps. Use the castle. </em><em>Learn how trebuchets work.</em> They watched the Dothraki commit suicide, and then a wall of dead swept over them. She was pulled under a pile of living corpses, and his one blade couldn't cut through them all. He heard her screams, but it faded, replaced by the terrified cries of the living, dragon fire raining around them, howling snow, undead growling and shrieking. He disconnected from his body, and in a fog, he saw Pod dragging him back through the gate. <em>They should never have been out here</em>.</p>
<p>“We won,” Pod whispered in disbelief. <em>Her squire. She'd want someone to look after him. Someone who could continue her promise to train him to be a knight.</em></p>
<p>“Goodbye, Pod,” Jaime said, leaving the boy alone with no backwards glance. He was exhausted, but he wouldn't stay. The pain was too great. The image of her death would never join him, and she would always be vibrant and alive by the fireplace. His thoughts briefly landed on Tyrion. “I wish father were here,” his father's murderer had said. <em>He </em><em>had </em><em>swor</em><em>n</em><em> to kill him, </em><em>had</em><em>n't he?</em> Pod would tell Tyrion of his survival, and that was all he owed. He gathered his meager belongings, and soon was out of Winterfell.</p>
<p>She had been the reason he had come to Winterfell. Now that her body was gone, her spirit couldn't tether him to the North, to his honor, to his brother. He had to go south, to the sister who had threatened to murder him. It was his hell to bounce between two women across the continent, but now the pitiless gods had chosen his final destination.</p>
<p><em>You won't be able to help us in this fight if I let them murder you first</em>, Bran Stark had said. The battle would have occurred just the same with or without Jaime; mayhaps the boy just wanted to take pleasure in his grief. It was a cruel taunt: if he hadn't been there, he wouldn't have seen her end. Winterfell to King's Landing, just a blink of an eye, and in that moment, Jaime saw Brienne everywhere.</p>
<p>He was near the Twins. Lady Catelyn, the one who had introduced them, was slaughtered there. Brienne had been so distraught when they learned that news. He tried to cheer her, but now he knew first hand why his attempts failed. She had stayed loyal to her lady even after she was dead and forgotten by the keepers of history. Jaime admired her devotion; he wouldn't do the same.</p>
<p>Harrenhall was around here somewhere. He had told her things there that Cersei had never cared to ask about. If he veered off here, he could be in Riverrun. It had been important to him then that he keep his vow to the dearly departed Lady Catelyn to not raise arms against the Starks or Tullys. Brienne had been there in person to remind him to follow that vow; it was lucky. He should have followed her then, but the forces of the universe conspired against him. He envied the Blackfish; it was better to die fighting than to live hollow like this.</p>
<p>Beyond that was the Westerlands, the land entrusted to his family. He still had an army somewhere. He faintly remembered an obligation to them, to his homeland. All around him, the suffering of the smallfolk tried to intrude on his thoughts. There was a victor in the North, and someone would come south and kill them all. If he turned or stopped, he could help someone… but Brienne wasn't around to encourage him to be good.</p>
<p>Before he could decisively make up his mind about a diversion, he was at King's Landing. Well, it was in sight. Could he just walk in? He sat beneath a tree, looking at the city. Why had he come? He stared empty eyed toward the sky. On his last return, the smoldering ruins of the Great Sept of Baelor dominated the view of the city, a scene that Aerys had threatened in his last moments. Cersei had never been so beautiful as when she had turned into the Mad King.</p>
<p>He was utterly addicted to her, and he sat under that tree without a plan. She wouldn't allow him to live without her, and the only outcome was her death. He ran his flesh hand through the grass. Brienne was dead, and he could join her soon. Her innocent, pleading blue eyes haunted his imagination as he contemplated the innocent people of King's Landing bustling about their daily lives. Cersei would pull them toward her, their lives forfeit so that they could shield her from the Dragon Queen. It was a worthy cause, he supposed. He didn't care of them, only Cersei. <em>She's a disease. I regret my role in spreading it; you will, too. </em>If only Olenna were right.</p>
<p>The dragon pit was near. <em>Fuck loyalty.</em> Fight for something greater than himself and petty mortal ties. He tried to rise above it. However, she was now dead, and how could he help humanity if no one were to witness it?</p>
<p>The sunlight was fading from the sky, the friendship between him and the tree had grown in the many hours they spent contemplating life together. A city patrol happened upon them, thoughtlessly destroying their reverie. He was easy to recognize, having kinda forgot about his glove for his golden hand. They helpfully escorted their lord to his sister; he floated in a fog through the city to her golden beauty.</p>
<p>She was resplendent, bathed in moonlight. She didn't bother to turn to face him, just stared out on the city and sipped her wine, a sight he was well used to. “Brother,” was her only greeting.</p>
<p>He moved away from the door but not into the room. He wondered what kind of food he could get quickly delivered from the kitchen. Several heartbeats passed. “The living won,” he finally said to break the silence.</p>
<p>“It couldn't have been much of a fight47</p>
<p>\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\b nmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm+96m.” She shooed Ser Pounce away.</p>
<p>“It seems there was never a real threat,” she began again, a quiet reply. “You're back so soon.” She finally turned to him, and her silhouette revealed an unchanged womb.</p>
<p>“You aren't with child.” A mild surprise. His thoughts turned unbidden to Brienne. They would have had magnificent children together.</p>
<p>“Yes, I am,” she said. She smiled at him, choosing to be charmed by the stupidest Lannister this time.</p>
<p>“Is it Euron's? Is he still in the city?” Jaime vaguely knew the correct response should be jealousy, like with that wildling, but he must have been too tired to feel his emotions fully.</p>
<p>“He's wherever I need him to be,” she cooed. “It's a skill you should have learned by now.” Pause. “But, no, don't you remember? It's yours.”</p>
<p>“Cersei, I know it's been a while, but as the child grows, it takes up more room in your-” He gestured at her abdomen.</p>
<p>“I know.” She gently shook her head at him.</p>
<p>“You'd be at least five months along...”</p>
<p>“Yes.” She sipped her wine and went back to staring out the window.</p>
<p>Odd. “You should have kept your promise,” he drew the conversation back. “To the Dragon Queen. To the living. They will now be marching south, and we have to make plans.” He had left immediately after the battle, and they would need to regroup before coming. It would give them some time –</p>
<p>“Our scouts tell us that their army will be arriving in the morning.” She turned back to him, supercilious from his confused expression. “Let her come. I have twenty thousand Golden Company troops and two thousand horses. I have Euron's fleet, and I assume she is weakened?”</p>
<p>“It is not for me to say.” The losses at Winterfell had been immeasurable; they had lost so many that they loved, and a wounded animal was dangerous.</p>
<p>She wrenched her eyes from the city. “Dear brother...” She reached for him, and he flinched.</p>
<p>“What can horses do against full grown dragons?” His head ached. She had never seen a dragon on the battlefield, but her arrogance on the matter wrapped her like a shroud.</p>
<p>She smirked. “If we had moved our armies to the North, we'd be living in harmony right now? That Targaryen bitch would happily let me keep the throne? The Northerners would feel gratitude towards us, and all would be forgiven?” She narrowed her eyes at him, studying him. Her eyes would have been prettier were they blue. “With how quickly the battle was over, would our army have arrived in time? I should lock you up for deserting me, give you to Qyburn in the black cells. Perhaps just let Ser Gregor swiftly take your head.” More empty threats, he knew, as she went back to gazing at the city and sipping her wine. He knew no greater passion and love than in that moment. The pain in his head grew.</p>
<p>They wordlessly awaited dawn together. True to her word, the sun rose upon a King's Landing surrounded with the combined Targaryen and Stark forces.</p>
<p>“They sent a message, requesting terms for our surrender,” Qyburn relayed to her.</p>
<p>“<em>Our</em> surrender?” Cersei scoffed. “Have they not seen our scorpions and our horses? This city... no, this kingdom, is mine.” She finally made a move to leave the room. “I assume you didn't ask for their surrender in return?” turning to fury, green eyes ablaze. “Fine, I guess I'll have to do it myself. If the worst comes to the worst, we have our wildfire, and we'll burn them all.” Jaime could not believe how lucky he was to be in this epic romance. “We can give them the dignity of admitting defeat to the queen rather than to a disgraced maester.”</p>
<p>They were at the city gates now, to face their enemies. He stood behind her, eyes unfixed on the ground; he was where she expected him to be, supporting her with her mad maester and undead abomination. Their queen stood, proud and defiant lioness, in front of the power of Westeros. “Have you come to pledge fealty to me?” she sweetly asked the Dragon Queen and Jon Snow.</p>
<p>“Not exactly,” Daenerys Targaryen countered. The game began.</p>
<p>It was the recitation of a script to make a conquering ruler seem merciful; Cersei was offered lands and titles if she would let this day be free of bloodshed. It was futile he knew, and it was a tiresome delay to the grave.</p>
<p>But then, a movement caught the corner of his eye.</p>
<p>He raised his head slightly and let his vision come into focus. He gasped, disbelieving, as a ghost manifested before him.</p>
<p>Brienne.</p>
<p>“I am the queen,” Cersei was saying. “You suggest I should be relegated to being the wife of a minor lord? I'd just as soon end up in Essos as a fisherman's wife.” She caught Jaime's ragged breathing. She quickly followed his gaze, annoyed at the disruption. “Oh, it's Jaime's pet. You should have kept such a hideous creature at home, Lady Sansa. Such a distraction.”</p>
<p>Cersei saw her, too, Jaime realized. She wasn't an illusion brought on by grief. She was at the edge of the negotiating group, near Lady Sansa. Her astonishing eyes were fixed on him, radiating concern. She was there, breathing, alive.</p>
<p>“She is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen,” Jaime said. Cersei gaped at him and watched as he straightened himself, leaving her side to his lady knight in a trance. Sansa rolled her eyes at his approach, clearly not seeing him a threat.</p>
<p>His sister stammered to his retreating form, “Brother, you should kill her.” Panic tinged Cersei's voice. She ran her hand down her pale white throat and then over her flat stomach. She looked up at scorpions lining the walls of King's Landing and then to the members of Golden Company and city guard she had brought as a show of power.</p>
<p>Jaime heard none of Cersei's words nor saw her actions. He reached Brienne and carefully brought his hand to her face. “You're alive,” he rasped, and the rest of the world fell away. He fell into the pool of her eyes and lightly caressed her cheek. “You fell in the battle,” he murmured.</p>
<p>She shyly brought his hand to his. “You didn't check if I were truly dead,” she gently corrected him as a faint smile danced on her lips.</p>
<p>Cersei's eyes tore murderously through them and raked over those Jaime had joined. Daenerys Targaryen. The Starks. Ned Stark's bastard. Traitors all. The fury of the other great houses of Westeros backed them even if they weren't there physically. Two dragons kept watch from the distance. “Tell me, where is Tyrion?” she called out to them.</p>
<p>“Relieved of his position and safely at Winterfell as a guest of the Starks,” the Dragon Queen primly responded.</p>
<p>Cersei whispered something to Qyburn and took another reassuring look at her power. Meanwhile, Jaime was aware of none of it. He brought his hand down, tangled with Brienne's. “How?” he could only faintly ask.</p>
<p>“The wights were mindless, simple battle fodder for the white walkers,” Brienne started slowly leading him further away from his sister, “a battering ram to overwhelm and quickly kill the enemy. They couldn't differentiate a soon-to-be corpse, a fresh corpse, or a wounded victim who would survive on a quick glance, so they just continued the fight. The people standing were the priority.”</p>
<p>“You just played dead?” he frowned.</p>
<p>“I was under a pile of bodies and had no choice,” she said with a touch of amusement. “Samwell Tarly read of the myth in a book. He told us in a meeting before you arrived. It was a temporary solution in the chaos, but it worked in our case.”</p>
<p>Jaime caught the usage of his brother's name, but he was too absorbed in the woman before him to investigate.</p>
<p>“You left before I could find you.” Her voice was nearly inaudible.</p>
<p>“I couldn't see you like that.” He moved closer to her and whispered into her, “I won't part from you again as long as you'll have me.” He rose up and brushed a soft kiss to her lips. It was a brief affection, far less than what he'd do were they alone, but she blushed as prettily just the same.</p>
<p>Behind him, Cersei became more agitated. “Perhaps your proposals have merit,” she began again with the Dragon Queen.</p>
<p>“There is something you should know,” Brienne told him, drowning Cersei out. “Your sister – your sister is not like to survive the day.” She carefully watched his face. The negotiations returned as background noise to them.</p>
<p>“I know.” She had been dead the moment she had betrayed the living.</p>
<p>Brienne's eyes were sad. “And Bran Stark, he's done something to you.”</p>
<p>This was new. “Something?”</p>
<p>“He can see things; he can do things. He can inhabit the minds of animals, and--” she hesitated,” and of people. He has glimpses of the future. They can explain more later.” She vaguely gestured away from them. “He's away from the North and its weirwood trees, and he only so much strength left. Whatever happens, trust me, and don't look back.”</p>
<p>He nodded and pulled her into an embrace.</p>
<p>Cersei regarded her treasonous brother and … that woman. She smiled sweetly to her enemies. “I will seriously consider submitting to your offer, but I need to discuss the terms with my advisers.”</p>
<p>“Of course,” the Dragon Queen graciously dismissed her.</p>
<p>Cersei swiftly turned to make her way back into the city. At the gate, she stopped her Ser Gregor and made a small motion back toward Jaime and Brienne. With a jerk, her hulking shadow drew his sword and tried to dash toward the object of her murderous rage, but his body wouldn't obey. His sword fell to the ground, and his hands found his mistress' throat instead.</p>
<p>A sharp pain went through Jaime's head, and he felt a veil lift from his thoughts. “Shhh, shhh,” Brienne soothed him and gently ran her fingers through his hair. “Stay with me.” He did.</p>
<p>The party next to him continued on with the conquest, in a reality separate from them.</p>
<p>Daenerys directed Grey Worm forward. He finished off the beast that had removed the lion queen from the game of thrones, and he went to relay the new queen's orders to the soldiers that watched on. These ones only followed the gold, and not the queen.</p>
<p>“We should have done this first,” Sansa remarked. “We could be rebuilding by now.”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Daenerys agreed with her for once. “But Lord Tyrion...” She couldn't finish, exasperated.</p>
<p>“Do I get to be king now?” Bran asked hopefully.</p>
<p>“What, no, why?” Arya shook her head at her little brother. “I could have killed her, too, you know. Just slip in, become the girl who filled her wine glass, and that would have been the end of it.”</p>
<p>“Why not disguise yourself as Ser Jaime?” Bran thought himself brilliant.</p>
<p>“How would that work? He's at least a foot taller than me. This is why you can't be king. Besides,” she grinned, “the lady knight is fond of him.”</p>
<p>“I don't want it,” Jon said.</p>
<p>“Gods, Bran, did you do something to him, too? What's wrong with you?” Sansa scolded her brother.</p>
<p>“I'll have my army sweep the city for any wildfire,” Daenerys said. “We'll also need to verify Yara's message that she killed Euron. War could be over in Westeros.” She smiled.</p>
<p>“Then we can discuss my coronation,” Bran said. “Sansa, did I tell you how beautiful --”</p>
<p>“Yes, Bran!” Sansa stopped him. She turned to Daenerys, “The North will be indebted to you if we can keep my brother here.”</p>
<p>“That can be arranged,” Daenerys said. “We'll have to organize a meeting of the major lords and ladies of Westeros. There is much to prepare.” She glanced at Jon. “And we need time to recover.”</p>
<p>“Lord Tyrion promised his sellsword friend the Reach.” Missandei excitedly shared the piece of gossip she picked up in Winterfell.</p>
<p>“Oh, gods, he didn't!” Sansa said. The women giggled together.</p>
<p>Brienne caught her lady's eye. Sansa gave a brief nod, and Brienne led Jaime away, the discussion of the grand plans for the future of Westeros fading into the background.</p>
<p>“We'll be a part of that, just not now,” she assured him. “Now, it's… not important.”</p>
<p>He appreciated her attempt at distraction. “I mourned her long ago without knowing it,” he admitted. “I just-” He wouldn't turn back. The poison was leaving his mind, only sadness at wasted time remaining. “She wasn't the same. She wasn't--”</p>
<p>“No,” she sympathized. She had her arm tightly around him as they walked away.</p>
<p>He needed time, and he knew she would give it to him. “I love you,” he confessed.</p>
<p>“And I you,” she returned, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The sea lay before them. “The water is more vibrant on Tarth, and there are such beautiful meadows there,” she hinted, as nonchalantly as she could manage. “We could escape for a time from the world.”</p>
<p>“I would like that.”</p>
<p>And so they did.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Like the show, Cersei's death just gets brushed aside.</p>
<p>I left my cat's typing on the keyboard in, and he provided better Cersei dialogue than D&amp;D ever did. HBO should give him his own show.</p>
<p>The idea is that Bran's powers need to be battery charged from a tree, and if they keep him away from the North, all is well. If he can be king in show, why not valonquar in this? It's hand wavey, but I blame him for the bizarre Cersei-Addiction that Larry had from S4 on. I may visit that later.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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